Re: [gdm-list] GDM + LDAP password change

[Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron Sun COM>]

Yan:

> I've just set up pam-LDAP authentication and tested the mandatory 
> password change.  It all works fine except for the theme.  The ldap 
> warning pops up just fine (the user gets a box that says: You must 
> change your LDAP password immediately) but then they get a bunch of ldap 
> instructions centered on the current GDM theme, overwriting whatever is 
> there.  These instructions are not in a box, they're just crammed into 
> the theme above and below the password text box.

Most GDM themes have a few different message areas:

- "pam-prompt"
  Messages associated with PAM_PROMPT_ECHO_ON or PAM_PROMPT_ECHO_OFF are
  displayed here.

- "pam-message"
  PAM output which is specified as PAM_TEXT_INFO is displayed here.
  Also GDM uses this area to display some internal messages.  If
  you grep the daemon code for GDM_MSG, these messages are associated
  with this area.

- "pam-error"
  PAM output which is specified as PAM_ERROR_MSG is displayed here.

> It's most likely a theme problem. For now I'm using the standard Debian 
> Lenny theme.  Has anyone dealt with this before?  How does gdm get fed 
> the text from ldap/pam and how does it display it?

If the messages are not being displayed well in your theme, it is likely
because the theme is not well designed.  You might file a bug against
Debian about this, and see if they fix it.  You could also modify the
theme XML file to adjust the message areas so they are better displayed
or switch to a different GDM theme that doesn't have these issues.

Brian